


Games Without Frontiers

by LectorEl



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Ra's and Tim have fun poisoning one another, it's cute, no really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-24
Updated: 2012-03-24
Packaged: 2017-11-23 04:07:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/617908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LectorEl/pseuds/LectorEl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or, Ra's and Tim have the weirdest form of foreplay, as observed by Dick Grayson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Games Without Frontiers

The first time Dick sees his little brother since Bruce’s supposed death, it’s entirely unexpected. The only reason he’s in Paris is to locate some of Bruce’s more reclusive contacts, who hadn’t gotten the memo about the rumors of Batman’s demise being greatly exaggerated. He’s cutting through a public park when he sees Tim half lounging on a park bench, and nearly gets whiplash jerking around to look.

“I wouldn’t have predicted your tactics, Timothy,” Ra’s al Ghul says, seating himself on the bench Tim’s occupying. Dick ducks behind an ornamental fountain, listening.

“You can’t be that surprised, Ra’s,” Tim says, tone disturbingly close to fond exasperation. “Not truly.” Al Ghul shakes his head, and cups Tim’s cheek. Tim’s eyes flutter half-shut.

“No,” the man agrees, “Not truly.” Al Ghul combs Tim’s bangs out of his eyes, an intimate, affectionate gesture neither of them seems to find remarkable. He surveys Tim with a look of possessive pride.

“My clever pit viper,” Al Ghul says. Dick wants to howl that Tim isn’t Al Ghul’s anything. But Tim smiles at the sobriquet.

“Not yours.” Tim’s voice is light as he says it, almost teasing. Ra’s chuckles, and pats Tim’s shoulder.

“Not yet,” Al Ghul counters. He puts a small, cloth wrapped package into Tim’s hand. “For your wounds, viper-mine. The poison can be…difficult.”

Tim doesn’t protest the second time. He closes his hand around the package and hides it away somewhere in his belt. “How kind,” he says dryly.

“Allowances must be made for youth.” Al Ghul’s amusement fairly radiates off him. Tim sighs and stands.

“Fifteen minute lead like usual?” he asks.

Al Ghul gives him an indulgent look. “You’ve done very well. You can have thirty.”

Tim grins at him and ducks off into the park, one hand pressed lightly against his side. Dick waits, and watches. True to his word, Al Ghul stays seated on the bench until a half hour has passed, and then rises, unhurriedly, and strolls in the direction Tim disappeared in.

***

He’d called Bruce immediately after that, and from there, Roy, Babs, Clark, Kory, Steph, Cass, and Jason. Between all of them, pretty much the entire community had been put on watch for Tim. There still wasn’t a sign of him for three months, and Dick, once again, is the person who sees him.

Dick’s on a date. Or rather, Richard Grayson, ward of Bruce Wayne, is on a date. Which is the only reason Dick’s at this restaurant, money or no. Alfred had never seen any value in tiny plates with tiny servings, and Dick wasn’t impressed by the ‘philosophy’ of small plate dining. As far as he could tell, it was mainly an excuse to charge more money for less food.

An opinion his date shared with him. Melanie Harris was an unapologetic social climber, and, once you discounted her more reptilian tendencies, quite a bit of fun to be around.

He hears Tim before he sees him. Tim’s voice is warm, light, only overheard because of a lull in the background noise.

“You do enjoy tempting fate, don’t you?” Dick shifts his chair discreetly, so that he can look at the entrance, the direction Tim’s voice came from. Tim’s dressed in a pale gold sherwani, thickly embroidered around the neck and down the left-hand side. Ra’s al Ghul stands next to him in a western-style suit, a proprietary hand resting on Tim’s hip.

The maitre’d, to her credit, doesn’t blink before escorting them to a table near the center of the floor. Tim nods to her and seats himself, Al Ghul following suit. The conversation isn’t loud enough for Dick to hear, but he can watch. And he doesn’t like what he sees.

Tim leans in, body angled towards Al Ghul. He’s not smiling, but his eyes are bright. Like they so often had been when Tim was younger, and Dick dropped by for an unannounced visit. A twist of jealousy churns in his gut. Tim shouldn’t be looking at somebody outside the family like that, and he definitely shouldn’t be looking at Ra’s al Ghul like that.

Al Ghul smirks at something, and taps the back of Tim’s palm, emphasizing his point. Tim half-tosses his head, chin length hair bouncing and settling into disarray.

Dick’s date coughs. “Whatever you’re ignoring me for, I hope it’s interesting,” Melanie says, giving Dick a pointed glare.

“My little brother is on a date with a man over twice his age.” The words pop out of his mouth without consulting his brain. Dick winces, and Melanie twists around in her chair to look in the direction Dick had. She bites down on her cheek, hard enough that Dick can see her do it.

“At least he’s got good taste in men,” Melanie offers, without much sympathy. She takes another long look, and whistles quietly. “Very, very good taste.”

Dick has the dubious pleasure of watching Al Ghul escort his little brother out of the restaurant, one hand resting at the small of Tim’s back.

“I’m sorry,” he begins to apologize.

She huffs, laughing. “Let me guess. You didn’t want to that about your brother’s taste in men.” Dick grimaces.

“No, no I did not,” he agrees. “Mind if I duck out?”

“Please, do. Fucking you while you’re thinking of your brother can only be traumatic to both of us,” Melanie waves him off. Dick nods, grateful, and exits as quickly as politeness allows. Before he’s even on the street, his cellphone is out, and he’s dialing.

“Hey, Bruce?” Dick says, as soon as Bruce picks up. “Saw Tim again. We’ve got a problem.”

Dick doesn’t care if it takes blackmailing the entire justice league into helping to get Tim back. There is no way he’s leaving his little brother with Al Ghul.


End file.
